No threat of disconnection for SIM cards issued through Aadhaar: Indian govt

In a joint press statement, both the DoT and the UIDAI clarified that the Supreme Court judgment on Aadhaar nowhere states that the mobikle numbers issues through Aadhaar eKYC have to be disconnected.

ET Bureau

October 19, 2018, 10:03 IST

The government has rubbished claims that more than 50 crore mobile phone numbers could face disconnection if the SIM cards procured on the basis of Aadhaar verification are not backed up by a fresh identification.

Asking subscribers not to panic, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on Thursday announced a new digital authentication mechanism for issuance of SIM cards.

In a statement issued jointly with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), it said that subscribers could submit other verification documents as per earlier DoT circulars on mobile KYC (know your customer) norms if they wished their service providers to replace their Aadhaar eKYC with the fresh KYC.

However, the phone numbers of such subscribers would not face disconnection in any case, according to the statement. About half of India’s mobile phone users have their Aadhaar numbers linked to their mobile phone numbers.

The Supreme Court had on September 26 struck down use of Aadhaar for biometric verification, declaring it “unconstitutional” as it did not meet “necessity stage” and “balancing stage” tests to check the primary menace. Although Aadhaar-based KYC was voluntary, more than 90% of new subscribers used the unique ID for verification.

On Thursday, the telecom industry also said in a statement that the convenience of customers topped the priorities of operators and the industry was committed to ensure that subscribers faced no disturbances whatsoever.

“Telecom operators always comply with instructions and regulations passed by DoT and we will adhere to the Supreme Court’s verdict,” it quoted Rajan S Mathews, director general of the Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI), as saying.

The DoT, in its statement, clarified that the apex court had not asked telecom companies to destroy all eKYC data within six months but that the onus was on the UIDAI, which administers Aadhaar, the 12-digit unique identification number.

“What the apex court has asked is that UIDAI should not keep authentication log for more than six months. The restriction is on UIDAI and not on the telecom companies. Therefore, there is no need for telecom companies to delete authentication logs,” it said.

The Supreme Court, it said, had only prohibited issuance of new SIM cards through Aadhaar eKYC authentication process due to lack of a law.

The statement also said that the DoT and UIDAI were working on a new process for issuing new SIM cards through a mobile app which would be fully compliant with the Supreme Court judgement in the Aadhaar case.

In the proposed process, it said, “live photograph of the person with latitude, longitude, and time stamp will be captured”. This will be in addition to the photo of the concerned person’s identity card such as Aadhaar card, voter ID, etc. The SIM card agent will be authenticated through a one-time password, and that is how a SIM card will be issued. "This process will be completely hassle-free and digital,” the DoT and UIDAI said in the joint statement.

In the statement issued by COAI, Mathews said, “Currently, we are closely working with DoT to build a completely hassle-free alternate digital verification process.” He also said that the operators were awaiting further orders and instructions from the DoT in the matter.

Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio Infocomm and Vodafone Idea have submitted their exit plans to the UIDAI, explaining that the sudden order of the apex court would require fresh investments, further straining the already stressed telecom sector. The companies also said that any alternative digital verification process would cause a time lag since it would require retraining of their entire workforce.